I’ve tipped at carry-out restaurants and coffee shops for a long time and wondered to myself, “Why?”

I recently picked up a carry-out lunch from an Athens restaurant chain. The food was good, as usual, but the service was not – maybe that’s because I didn’t offer any gratuity that particular day.

“We’re really making bank on tips,” said the girl at the cash register, in a sarcastic way to the cooks behind her, after viewing my tip-free debit card readout. I stood only a few feet away.

I don’t know if the comment was directed to me, but if so, what a subtle insult. One thing the girl definitely wasn’t lacking was an inflated sense of entitlement.

You know what? I usually do tip at carry-out restaurants, coffee houses and the like. And I don’t think the existence of one brat at a counter means all food service employees have the same attitude.

I know people with counter jobs and they work very hard. I know the pay isn’t amazing. A lot of employees probably are grateful just to get tips, and might not become incensed if they don’t. The whole issue is that some counter servers have come to expect tips just like sit-down restaurant servers, and the customer is a complete jerk if he or she doesn’t pay up. I’m not even saying you should tip or not tip at carry-out restaurants and coffee shops, of which there are plenty in Athens.

As customers, we should decide what constitutes a service deserving of tips. Why should we tip?

I always thought a customer should tip depending on the service he or she receives, not as a reaction to the type of product sold. A tip isn’t some automatic tax put on food. Tips are meant to reward a person who goes really far out of his or her way to serve you.

I feel like tipping when somebody walks over to me, asks me what I want, gets it for me and then cleans up my trash. I don’t really know why I should pay extra if I do a lot of legwork.

Carry-out restaurants and coffee shops sell food and other ingestible products, just like sit-down restaurants. In sit-down restaurants, though, waiters and waitresses do practically everything for you, short of wiping your mouth.

Am I tipping to make up for the unfair, low wages that some bosses give their employees? If employers treat their help poorly, that’s terrible, but it’s not my job to step in and fix the situation.

It can’t be true that just any business can present a cute jar that magically compels people to tip. This needs to end somewhere.

Despite all the reasons not to, though, I’m still probably going to tip where I can. But I shouldn’t have to feel like a bad guy if I don’t.

- Josh White is a graduate student from Carrolton studying public administration.